Page 6 of Mage of the Dragon Prince
The dragon shifter gestured with its tail for Auslin to come closer, then curled it around himself to make more room for the human.
It was all the invitation Auslin needed. He gratefully got into bed with a word of thanks, scooting as close to the dragon as he dared. To his amazement, it was completely dry. “How did you—?” Auslin asked until he realized if the dragon shifter could light multiple fires through magical means, getting dry would have been easy enough. “Right. Dragon shifter magic. I forgot.” It was easy to do when Kio couldn’t use it since he was only half-shifter.
Once again, the dragon laughed. Auslin smiled reflexively, even as he shivered. It startled him when the dragon’s heavy wing fell on him, completely covering his body in welcomed warmth.
“Thank you.” Auslin couldn’t resist petting the wing blanketing him. It was amazing how soft the underside was. His exhaustion soon caught up with him. The fact that it was the most comfortable bed he had ever had the pleasure of sleeping in helped him quickly drift into a deep slumber.
Sleep was slow to leave Auslin in the morning. He lingered in an unaware state, enjoying the warmth embracing him. It was a comfort he was loath to let go of in favor of wakefulness. He snuggled deeper into the comfort with a contented sigh, loving when he was held tighter.
It had been so long since Kio had held him like that—and that’s when Auslin remembered it couldn’t be Kio behind him. His eyes flew open, and he saw a pale arm around him with silver shifter markings. Auslin scrambled back with an alarmed noise as he turned to see a naked man.
Brushing his long, silver-white hair from his face and opening his eyes, the shifter blinked sleepily as he looked at Auslin questioningly with startlingly familiar ice-blue eyes. Auslin’s heart raced when their gazes met. The shifter in front of him looked like a much younger Kitsuki. But unlike the ruler, the person in front of him had both arms, different colored hair, and a brighter aura.
Although the dragon monarch looked to be in his thirties in human years, Auslin knew he was over a thousand years old. The shifter in front of him appeared to be equivalent to a twenty-something-year-old human male in age, but he was probably still several hundred years old.
He was a stunningly beautiful creature in seductive repose, which made Auslin’s heart pound for a different reason altogether. The shifter had shimmering silver markings that sensuously caressed his entire body. They were proof that he was an immensely powerful shifter.
Auslin knew Kitsuki had similar lines on the back of his hand, the sides of his neck, and chest, but they were much darker and didn’t swirl with energy like he had seen with other shifters before. He had always assumed Kitsuki had markings on the rest of his body, like a shifter of his rank was supposed to. But Auslin had no way of knowing how extensive they were since he had never seen him undressed before. And for some reason, thinking of the dragon monarch naked brought heat to his cheeks.
But none of that changed the fact that Auslin was looking at an impossible person. He couldn’t make sense of it at all.
When he continued silently staring, the shifter propped himself up on his elbow. He asked in a rumbling voice deepened by sleep, “Is it a human custom to awaken with such fear?”
It was not the reaction Auslin had been expecting. “It is when you wake up in bed naked with a stranger!”
“You fear me as a man but not as a dragon? Whatsense does that make? Humans are such curious creatures.”
“You can’t be the same dragon as last night,” Auslin protested. “Your eyes aren’t silver!”
“You do not know much about shifters, do you?” He seemed amused. “You met with my dragon yesterday, who has different-colored eyes than me when he is in control.”
Although Auslin was friendly with many shifters from his travels, he had never actually met one in their other form before. He looked down in embarrassment, which made it easier to breathe when he wasn’t looking straight into the shifter’s sky-blue eyes, which reminded him so much of Kitsuki’s.
“Why do you seem no less fearful of me?”
“What’s your name?” Auslin needed to know that crucial piece of information that would confirm his worst fears. Had he somehow gone back in time via Fate’s Gate and met Kitsuki in the past?
“You do not know who I am?”
The human shook his head.
“I am Prince Kitaro Ariake,” he said as if that explained everything.
“PrinceKitaro?” Had Auslin heard right?
The shifter adopted a playfully arrogant look. “I should feel insulted you do not know who I am.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Clearly, you are not from around here.” Kitaro tucked some hair behind his pointed ear that hadfallen when he shifted positions again. “I am the youngest son of the ruler of Valzerna, King Tatsuki Ariake.”
Unfortunately, that told Auslin what he dreaded most. Somehow, he had traveled back in time when Fate’s Gate had rewritten the course of his life. Auslin knew from Kio that his and Kitsuki’s father was the famed ruler, King Tatsuki, who had died over three hundred years ago during a brutal battle with a powerful phoenix when Kio was still a young child. The thought that he had somehow ended up over half a millennium in the past filled him with a rising sense of panic. He did his best to stay in control of his spiraling emotions. How was it possible he was meeting one of Kio’s older brothers in the past? And why didn’t he know about that brother in the future?
“Based on your reaction, his name obviously means something to you.”
“Do you have any other brothers?” Auslin asked in a detached tone, needing to know so he could judge just how far back in time he had gone.
“I have two older half brothers, Mitsuki and Kisano.”
